Colin Kearns

New York

Editor-In-Chief at Field & Stream. Enthusiast of the outdoors. BLT extraordinaire. Husband to the raddest gal in the universe.

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Articles

How to Get the New Copy of the Field & Stream Journal

2 weeks ago | fieldandstream.com | Colin Kearns

Note: The Game Fish Issue—Vol. 130, No. 1 of the Field & Stream Journal—is out now! To get your copy, become a member of the 1871 Club. My best spring break ever got off to a disastrous start. This was senior year of high school. While many of my classmates were packing for a week in the Florida sun, two of my best friends and I were gearing up for a week of trout camp in Kentucky. The drive from St. Louis took six or seven hours. The entire way, our spirits—and angling optimism—soared.
Hunting and Fishing Gifts for Book Lovers

Dec 9, 2024 | fieldandstream.com | Colin Kearns |T. Edward Nickens |Sage Marshall

Ahead of the holiday season, we've published guides for the best fly-fishing gifts, best gifts for hunters, and stocking stuffers among others—now it's time to recommend some gifts for book lovers. I’ve been told that I can be a difficult person to shop for around the holidays. I’m sure there’s some truth to that, but, when in doubt, there's one can't-miss category of gift ideas for me: books. I can never have enough. Of all the books I read this year, the list below includes some of my favorites.
The Best Duck Hunting Waders of 2024, Tested and Reviewed

Nov 5, 2024 | fieldandstream.com | Colin Kearns |Joseph Albanese |Phil Bourjaily |Ryan Chelius

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more ›Besides your shotgun, duck hunting waders are arguably the most important piece of equipment a waterfowl hunter will own. Waterfowl habitat is a nasty place for gear and your waders will take a beating. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t quality duck hunting waders that will last season after season.
50 Expert Tips for Hunting the Whitetail Rut

Oct 31, 2024 | fieldandstream.com | Scott Bestul |Dave Hurteau |Tom Keer |Colin Kearns

It’s the end of October as I write this, midday, and I just spotted a deer while driving home from a quick trip to town. Smack in the middle of a wide-open cut cornfield, with the sun high in the sky, was a 150-class tank of a buck trotting through the stubble, nose to the ground, following the scent, I assume, of an early-estrus doe. It’s not even November yet, but the rut is here. And all of a sudden, I can’t wait to get into a tree stand. The very beginning of the rut is the best.
A Bird-Dog Bell with a Familiar Ring

Oct 29, 2024 | fieldandstream.com | Phil Bourjaily |Colin Kearns |T. Edward Nickens |Jonathan Miles

THE SCENT OF SKUNK didn’t come off the bell for days, but that happens when your dog takes two close-range blasts in the face. Sam was wearing the bell on the morning my wife, Pam, first came hunting with me. When it fell silent, we found Sam on point at the end of a waterway in a spot that often held a rooster. “Watch this,” I said, stepping forward to kick the grass in front of Sam’s nose. Instead of an explosion of wingbeats, a black-and-white tail curled up out of the grass.
The Borderland: A Quail Hunting Adventure in the Southwest

Oct 28, 2024 | fieldandstream.com | Hal Herring |Colin Kearns |David E. Petzal |Will Brantley

The country stretches out wide in the sweep of early sun, the big Animus Mountains of purple and deep orange cliffs towering there like a fortress.
11 of the Most Famous Hunting Dogs Ever

Oct 24, 2024 | fieldandstream.com | Tom Keer |Scott Bestul |Colin Kearns |Steven Hill

I love gun dogs, which means I wouldn’t walk a pheasant or quail field or sit in a blind without one. Dogs make every hunt. On some days they cast perfectly and handle every bird with ease. On others they plow through thick vegetation and crank out one blind retrieve after another. Those epic hunts make up for the times when they come unhinged and we cuss with the eloquence of a dockworker. But Momma didn’t raise no quitter, so we get them back on track.
How to Hunt Buck Scrapes During the Pre-Rut

Oct 15, 2024 | fieldandstream.com | Scott Bestul |Colin Kearns |Phil Bourjaily |Morgan Lyle

As we move from mid- to late-October, bucks are primed to go on a sign-making frenzy, which means that the number of fresh scrapes dotting your hunting grounds is about to explode. Depending on whom you ask, buck scrapes are either whitetail hunting’s hot ticket or the biggest form of fool’s gold going. For every hunter who’s arrowed a giant buck over a scrape, you’ll meet five who’ve repeatedly sat staring the sign and gotten skunked.
Interview with Book Author Jared Sullivan

Oct 15, 2024 | fieldandstream.com | Colin Kearns |David E. Petzal |Hal Herring |Phil Bourjaily

We don’t often cover books on F&S.com—but when we do, it’s about ones that we either love or ones written by an author we admire. Both of those criteria apply to Valley So Low: One Lawyer’s Fight for Justice in the Wake of America’s Great Coal Catastrophe.
Life, Death, and Steelhead

Oct 7, 2024 | fieldandstream.com | Colin Kearns |Scott Bestul |Phil Bourjaily |Morgan Lyle

HE EASED the drift boat into the awakening river. A chinook crashed the surface. Chukars on the far bank cackled. The rising sun gradually lightened Mack’s Canyon and opened color in the water that had streamed black in the predawn. The current carried us to the first bend, and Joe Randolph angled the oars for the turn where the Deschutes widened before us, wild and swift. The river pulsed beneath the hull. It was like riding a beast, sprung from its cage. “How’s your wading?” Randolph asked.